The rocks and the hills will cry out....

At church this morning, the service was centered around the events of Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem and the people praised Him. But the scriptures say that their praise was not necessary for Him, because if they didn't praise Him, the very rocks would do it. I think the point is that our praise is not necessary to God. He has created, or maybe instituted or 'highly suggested,' that we praise Him for our own benefit. There is something in the act of worship and praise, whether in a community church service, in our own homes in solitude, or in our studios or workplaces, that we benefit from. I know from my own experience that if I am praising, I am not quite so centered on my self and my own petty problems. I do confess that I feel this connection to God and distraction from self most when I am weaving or painting, not necessarily when I am 'in church.'

I believe, whether we are praising Him or not, the hills and the rocks are crying out praise all the time. And the trees and the flowers and the birds... the very earth itself. I have, on very rare occasions, felt like I have heard that praise when in the solitude of nature. It is a wonder and a blessing to be able to add my voice, both in actual song and in my work, to the praise all around me.

This week, before the world celebrates the death and resurrection, pick up a rock and listen for it's praise. Stick it in your pocket to remind you to add your own praise to it. Try to out-praise it, if you can!

When the world is too much with me...

The world has been too much with me of late. I am needing to turn my back on it; to go to the wilderness, as Jesus did, to be renewed. We don't really have a 'wilderness' to go to, but we do go to the mountains. We have a small rustic cabin there. We have been renewing there for almost 30 years, and it truly does help. I believe that is one example that Christ intended for us to take literally, as well as spiritually. There are times when you just need to get away from people, from computers, from telephones; from demands on your time, on your minds, and on your energy; from television and newspaper headlines; and from traffic and daily calendars, even if for just a short time.

When I need this retreat and withdrawal, I think of Patti Griffin's amazing song, written with inspiration from a Martin Luther King speech (and both speech and song with inspiration from God, I am convinced.) The song is called "Up to the Mountain" and here are the lyrics:

I went up to the mountain
Because you asked me to
Up over the clouds
To where the sky was blue
I could see all around me
Everywhere
I could see all around me
Everywhere

Sometimes I feel like
I've never been nothing but tired
And I'll be working
Till the day I expire
Sometimes I lay down
No more can I do
But then I go on again
Because you ask me to

Some days I look down
Afraid I will fall
And though the sun shines
I see nothing at all
Then I hear your sweet voice, oh
Oh, come and then go, come and then go
Telling me softly
You love me so

The peaceful valley
Just over the mountain
The peaceful valley
Few come to know
I may never get there
Ever in this lifetime
But sooner or later
It's there I will go
Sooner or later
It's there I will go


So we will go up to the mountain for a few days this weekend. And I am convinced that we will come home rested and renewed, ready to face life again in our not-always-peaceful valley.


Here is where you can listen to a bit of the song, or on iTunes.

Think on these things...

Last week it was our turn, myself and a friend, to plan the Sunday service. We are on the worship committee at our local congregation, and our turn comes around every two months or so. We usually try to plan the songs and scriptures to compliment the lesson the speaker will be giving, but last week we were to have a guest speaker, and we didn't know what he would be speaking on. So we got to choose our own favorites! For the scripture reading I chose my very favorite scripture from Philippians 4. When the young man we had asked to do so got up and read it aloud on Sunday morning, it struck me again how much I love those words, and how I truly would love to live by them.

Right now, it seems that so many people around me are living with negative thoughts ruling their lives; fear, anger, resentment, hatred. And it is easy to be affected by those 'vibes.' But just think how uplifting even a smile from a stranger can be, or the sight and sound of a flock of geese flying overhead, or the beauty of a small child's voice. How wise Paul was to remind us that these are the things that will give us joy, when we send our thoughts in that direction!



Do not forget today that, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Philippians 4:8) Look around you, and notice the lovely things, and meditate on them, and the God of peace shall be with you. (v. 9)

The beauty of.... well, Beauty!

I once entered a juried exhibit where the juror made comments that were sent back to the entering artist. I do believe one of my pieces was accepted, though I don't remember for sure. What I do remember is the comment the juror made about my work. He/she said the work was "too pretty" and it "would have made a stronger statement had I not made beauty an object of my work." I also remember noting how many ugly pieces there were in that particular exhibit. I never understood why the juror, also a fiber artist, had a preference for the ugly, the obscene, the dark and depressing; the work that uplifted neither the viewer nor, I am convinced, the creator. Nor did I think it could have uplifted the Creator.

Beauty is pretty much just defined as "something that is aesthetically pleasing," so of course it is subjective, or "in the eye of the beholder." There are certainly lots of cases where an artist sets out to create something beautiful, and may even feel they have succeeded, but other viewers may not see beauty in it.

So why am I thinking about beauty? I have been looking about me, in this long dark winter, searching for beauty, and it is very clear to me that beauty is of value to the Creator of this world, and that He wants us to see and appreciate it. We can read of artists and craftsmen in the Bible who were directly inspired by Him to create objects of beauty. When the ark of the covenant and later the temple were built, they were decorated at His instruction with gold images from nature and 'precious stones for beauty.' Some of the beautiful objects were put in the most holy place, where only the high priest and God Himself would see them. There was no structural or practical reason for the decoration. It was strictly meant to glorify and please God with it's beauty.

I decided long ago when I began making things, that I wanted to create work that was as beautiful as I possibly could make it be. Why would I want to spend time and resources making something that is not positive, that does not uplift the viewer and give any glory to God? I do know that some artists feel they have very good reasons to draw attention to the ugly side of life. In my role as guest curator for a number of exhibitions I have seen quite a few truly horrible and even frightening works. They did have some message, but I couldn't see that they needed to be so hideous. What an artist puts out into the world has the power to spread. My art goes places I will never see. It can spread fear, hatred, lust, and all the ugliness of the world like an infectious disease. Or it can bring joy, recall pleasant memories, and lift the spirit of the viewer, like the power of a sweet smile. I do not apologize for pursuing beauty in my work. If jurors and 'sophisticated' critics see it as 'too pretty,' they do not have the same motivation I have. My work is created not only to please the viewer; it is created to please the Creator.

Creativity, as God's work

I have long held the belief - as strong a belief as any I have - that creativity is God's work. When we seek to know God through His word, our first glimpse of Him is as a creator. And when man is created, it is noted that he is made in God's image. We are then also to be creators. To ignore the gift of creativity in ourselves is to ignore God in us.

Creative venues - Art, if you will - have much too long been in the hands of those who do not acknowledge the Spirit's collaboration in their work. Creative gifts were once encouraged in churches and by those who wanted to see those gifts used by God's people. But in the last several centuries, it was somehow determined that those gifts were not Godly enough, or that the products of those gifts encouraged idolatry. For whatever reason, the arts have long been discouraged or, at best ignored, by many churches and religious institutions and leaders. Theaters, movies, music, visual art, and literature is now much less in the hands of those who seek Godly collaboration than it is in the hands of the secular world.

But creative work as the work of God is far from dead. I believe "God's word," or the inspired words of God are continuing to be written by many fine writers who seek His inspiration. And we have seen several movies recently that clearly show God's involvement in their creation.

We are all born with a Creator - the creative form of God - in us. I just have to watch my grandchildren paint and color with joyful abandon to see this truth. The challenge is to get our own egos out of the way and to let our acquired skills and our desire to create become vessels for the voice of God. The first step, I think, is to let go of the idea that the art we make is "our work" and to embrace the image of it as the work of God.

To this end, I have been reading and studying and praying about what it means to be a creative Christian. What does God want me to do with the desire to create that He has given me? How can I use the talents, gifts, and skills He has given me for His good? Why has He made me an artist, instead of making me a more 'useful' tool? And, perhaps the most difficult question of all, do I need to know the answers to all these questions or the outcomes of the work I do to fulfill the purpose He has created me for?

To be continued, I am sure....

Humility, or when Pride Falleth...

...it can be a long way down!

The preacher at the church I attend has spent the past few Sunday's speaking about humility. It has made me recall my own experience with praying for humility. First, let me say that I had been told a number of times by those wiser than myself never to pray for humility "unless you really mean it." But I was too proud, too sure of myself, to listen to that very wise advise. After all, an answer to the prayer would just be that God would either grant me humility or He would not. Right? I foolishly did not take into account the manner in which God might grant me humility.

A few summers ago, I was in a position that I felt could make me possibly to become quite cocky about myself. My work was doing well. It had gotten some attention and some decent sales. I was scheduled to teach at the national fiber conference, Convergence, in the summer. During that conference my work would be shown in a number of exhibits in the area, including one which I had guest-curated for an area Fine Art Center. Realizing that this was a moment in which Pride could rear it's ugly head in my life, I offered up sincere prayers that God would grant me humility during that time.

As the conference and exhibit time drew closer, I became increasingly aware of a sharp pain in my mid-right back. I'd been doing a lot of yard and garden work, so I attributed it to that. I began to baby my back, hoping the pain would ease up before my important trip, but it only got worse. I went to my doctor, who prescribed pain medication, but it didn't seem to help at all. I continued to hope that the pain would abate before the conference. It did not.

While I was at the conference, I had no feelings of Pride at all. My over-riding prayer was "Lord, just get me through this week!" Everything I did there was done while enduring the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life (and I have had two children.) Between teaching and attending exhibits and giving gallery talks, I would go into a bathroom and cry in pain. I called my doctor and begged for a stronger medication, but because I was away from home, she could not prescribe anything. I didn't have the time to go to an Emergency Room, which was what my doctor had recommended. I had driven to the conference with a friend, and I begged her to drive us home in my car, a 5 hour trip over the mountains, as I couldn't drive in the pain I was having or on the medications I was taking which were supposed to help, but didn't.

When I got home, I went to bed for a week. Even flat on my back, the pain wouldn't ease up, no matter what heavy-duty drug I was taking. I went to a chiropractor, who nearly killed me. X-rays were taken. Finally, a physical therapist discovered that one of my ribs had misaligned, causing it to catch underneath another rib and get caught there. She was able, after several sessions, to ease it back into place. That place in my back is still a 'tender area' that I coddle a bit. It is a physical reminder of God's answer to my request for humility. I had not one cocky or prideful thought during that summer's events.

I now find myself giving the advise to "be sure you really want humility before you pray for it." God doesn't mess around with a prayer like that. He knows just what it will take to bring us to our knees, and can quite effectively cause that fall that "Pride goeth before."

What is true religion?

There are so many frightening things being done in the world today in the name of religion. Religion is the way we are tied back to God, and many people have ideas about how this is to be done. But I believe there is a simple test to know what is truly of God and what is not. True religion, that which is Godly and God sanctioned, is that which is filled with love and compassion and that which acts as if there is a basic holiness permeating things and people. Those who practice such religion live creatively and do not try to force others into tiny rules and boxes, into their own politics and laws, for all of those things were done away with with Christ's sacrifice. (Book of Galations) Any hatred served up in the name of religion is just hatred. God is love, not hate.


Setting God's agenda for Him, and trying to 'do His work' for Him is far from what He has asked us to do. He has asked us to accept and live in what He has done for us, and is willing to continue doing. These people scare me. They claim to speak for God but there is no Godly love in them.


Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is Love. 1 John 4:8